Star: Jet Li

Cradle 2 The Grave (2003) – Jet Li, DMX, Anthony Anderson and Mark Dacascos

From the outset, this movie is clearly pushing the usual pop trash on our youth, with mindless aggressive Eminem rapping throughout the opening scene.

By half an hour in, Jet Li makes a good partnership with DMX as they combat Chinese gangsters together, even though they started out fighting each other (since the enemy of my enemy is my friend).

Mark Dacascos stars as the main baddie in this movie, opposite Jet Li, and does a great job of it.

We also have at least one funny guy in Anthony Anderson, the fat black man, although there’s also a fat white guy called Tom Arnold who tries to be funny but isn’t.

The rest of the supporting cast members here are pretty strong too — from the lead female Gabrielle Union to the assistant goons. There’s also several decent action scenes here, and some element of interesting plot, as well as some decent banter from time to time; but the script is lacking and and the humour is frequently immature, so all in all, it’s a bit of a wasted operation and I’m going to rate it Bang Average.

This movie is also blessed with nice little cameo roles for UFC champs Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture as they fight each other in a cage before teaming up against Jet Li.

Kiss Of The Dragon (2001) – Jet Li and Tchéky Karyo

The beginning of this movie is pretty well made. It’s well cultured, well choreographed, well planned and well edited to keep things moving at a good pace. The sound and picture could be improved but everything else is on point. The casting and acting is pretty good too. Jet Li with his well honed awareness, kung fu skill and quiet charismatic charm, makes a great 007-style Chinese agent, licensed to kill. And his counterpart, Tchéky Karyo, makes a first class baddie too.

Having said that, it is a bit gratuitous early on, and then it gets particularly nasty shortly after half an hour in as the main baddie — the head pimp who is also the local police inspector — forcibly injects drugs back into a prostitute who recently cleaned herself up — to keep her sick, weak, dependent and subservient. Then she gets beaten up by fellow prostitutes, and then by another pimp. This is uncomfortable viewing, but on the plus side, it sets up the following phase of the movie, where she meets Jet Li, the shy respectful gentleman — this part of the movie is convincingly made too.

By the half way mark, it looks set for an Above Average rating, give or take a bit since the plot has yet to really unfold yet — we’ve had little more than a strong opening thus far, with some nasty bits dragging it down.

As the movie progresses, the entertainment dwindles while the unpleasantries fail to subside. As a result, in the end I’m going to rate this a Bang Average movie. Indeed, the build up is considerably better than the middle. Not that the entertainment completely dies off, but the smooth fun vibe from early on is mostly absent in the middle, only to reappear briefly near the end — if not for the cool ending when Jet Li openly storms the police station, I would have rated it Below Average due to the low quality middle that significantly lowered the rating from the Above Average beginning.

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) – Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Michael Angarano

The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)

This movie gets off to a powerful start, albeit slightly juvenile. Jackie Chan is acting constantly drunk and Jet Li is constantly grinning. Fortunately, Jet Li’s grinning character goes away and doesn’t come back till near the end, and we see a similar but more serious character played by Jet Li in the mean time.

The Forbidden Kingdom is a mildly powerful story, put together quite well.

By half an hour in, it looks set for an Above Average rating. By 1 hour in, that seems generous, but by the end, it seems accurate again.

There are some nice action scenes in this movie — not outstanding, but pretty good still. The fight scene between Jackie Chan and Jet Li is quite memorable, and the battle scene towards the end is pretty good.

There is a very funny scene just before the turn of the hour though — albeit very short — as Jackie Chan tries to make rain, and thinks he succeeds, until he sees what Jet Li is doing over his head.

The lead character — a nervous teenage boy, played by Michael Angarano when he was aged 19 and a half — looks a bit like Christopher Lambert crossed with Colin Farrell, with an extra pointy beak.

It’s quite rare that a movie peaks towards the end and has a very long, strong back end, leading to a great final moment, but this movie is a prime example of exactly that. Half way through I was thinking the initial Above Average prediction is too generous, but in the end I think it’s undershooting if anything.

The Defender / The Bodyguard from Beijing (1994) – Jet Li

The Bodyguard from Beijing (1994)

Also called The Defender, there’s some very cool action in this movie from the serious bodyguard character played by Jet Li, accompanied by some juvenile humour from the policeman played by Kent Cheng, making it an entertaining movie on several fronts. It’s an action hero movie with a touch of comedy and a touch of romance. Christy Chung plays the lead female role – a spoilt woman who witnessed a murder and needs protecting from some powerful criminals but doesn’t appreciate the danger initially, however her rich boyfriend does so he hires the best bodyguard money can buy, played very well by Jet Li.

The English dubbing is poor but tolerable – much better than subtitles.

Overall I rate it (upper) OK. Almost on a par with those movies rated Decent but the dubbing issue lets it down slightly, as does the regularly cheesy acting.

Fearless (2006) – Jet Li

Not a bad movie, but I can’t find an English dubbed version. Some parts are in English but most is in Mandarin. English subtitles are easier to follow here than in most movies, since the speaking is rarely fast and there’s plenty of speechless action; but if you are easily able to pause, rewind and read the subtitles at your own pace, that will inevitably help you follow the story and enjoy the movie more. If I could find a good English dubbed version I’d rate it 7.5 but as it depends on subtitles I’ll give it a 7/10 for the inconvenience.

This movie is very loosely based on the true story of Huo YuanJia – so loosely that one of Huo YuanJia’s grandsons, Huo ShouJin, sued this movie’s producers & distributors in 2006 for misrepresenting & dishonouring his grandfather’s legacy. Maybe that’s got something to do with the lack of an English Dubbed version today.

The story follows a boy who wants to learn Kung Fu but his father was leading him away from it (true story). He grows up and becomes a famous fighter (true) but soon his family are killed (fiction). With nothing left to lose, Jet Li’s character loses himself in a remote farming village, and with the help of a friendly & loving community, his attitude improves. He then faces further tests which will go down in history (loosely based on true events).

It’s not a bad performance by Jet Li and some of the other actors such as Sun Li who plays the lead female role. Quite enjoyable if you don’t mind the subtitles. Some distressing parts though – borderline horror genre at times. Add to that some genuine life lessons on war vs peace, and pride vs humility. Combine this with a vast amount of epic kung fu from Jet Li and you arrive at a very respectable movie to enjoy one evening – it’s nearly two and a half hours long.

The Master (1992) – Jet Li

The Master (1992)

The Master is a fun film for the keen martial arts enthusiast. It’s not a very high budget blockbuster; but with a strong lead performance by Jet Li, a decent lead female for light-hearted near-romantic chemistry with him, and a complete focus on martial arts from start to finish with three separate schools of kung fu in the film, this is definitely one to watch if you’ve never seen it before and quite worth re-watching if you’ve not seen it in a few years as there are very few moments of boredom – it’s pretty much entertaining from start to finish if you haven’t watched it in years. The Master is not naturally an English language movie but there is a well dubbed English version which is almost as good for those who don’t like reading subtitles. With the humble budget, good lead cast, decent techniques and simple but effective storyline for the martial arts enthusiast we give this movie a rating of 7.5/10 which is a very respectable score.

Fist Of Legend (1994) – Jet Li

Fist Of Legend (1994)

Not as powerful a plot as Jet Li’s movie made a decade later called Fearless (2006), but at least Fist Of Legend (1994) has a decent English dubbed version unlike Fearless.

Fist Of Legend is an entertaining movie albeit thin on plot. The fight scenes are plentiful and well made – well staged, well shot, energetic and creative – not too monotonous for a Kung Fu movie.

Jet Li performs well as usual, this time in the role of Chen Zen, a student of Huo YuanJia (who the Fearless movie was based on). Chen Zen’s female companion in this movie, called Mitsuko Yamada, is played well by Shinobu Nakayama – she and Jet Li make a credible couple.

The other actors in this movie range from adequate to pretty good, including Yasuaki Kurata who does a good job as Fuimo Funakoshi, a wise & friendly Japanese warrior who defeats Chen Zen without injuring him. He is also Mitsuko’s uncle in this movie. And Billy Chow does a good job as General Fujita – a strong military leader and the final nemesis Chen Zen needs to defeat.

Fist Of Legend (1994) is kind of a Tribute to Bruce Lee, as Jet Li replicates some of the concepts Bruce made famous two decades prior, including Dojo Storms (a la Fist Of Fury), Butterfly Boxing (a la Way Of The Dragon) and Backflip Kicks (a la Enter The Dragon). The plot runs VERY similar to Bruce Lee’s movie Fist Of Fury (1972), with a fictional lead character called Chen Zen whose teacher is poisoned by a Japanese plot with the help of Chinese traitors. Both movies feature an epic dojo storm. It’s also great to see Jet Li attempt to impersonate the beautiful Butterfly Boxing footwork that Bruce Lee made famous in Way Of The Dragon (1972) – credit to Jet Li for attempting this although it’s clearly not something he’s well trained in, as it looks quite awkward to the trained eye but probably looks fine to the casual audience – it even looked a bit forced when Bruce did it (compared to professional boxers dancing around a bouncy ring canvas, which is bound to be more fluid than dancing on concrete) so we’ll let Jet Li off with this and appreciate his tribute – it was still good to watch.

Romeo Must Die (2000) – Jet Li

Jet Li in Romeo Must Die (2000)

This is one of Jet Li’s best movies in terms of having good supporting actors, great backing music and a seemingly decent production budget.

Although the plot is a bit thin, it’s ok – the action is frequent and the vibe is cool – intermittently exciting with good humour. A few slower scenes and the final fight scene drags on a bit, but otherwise it’s pretty fluid entertainment value.

Jet Li plays a Chinese kung fu expert called Han, who breaks out of jail upon hearing his brother is dead, to attend the funeral and find his killer.

It should be no surprise that the music is good, seeing how this movie has stars like DMX who plays a club owner called Silk, and Aaliyah who plays the lead female role called Trish. Both do a pretty good job in their respective roles here, and both of their music is played throughout, at very relevant times. Whoever selected the tunes and mixed them into the movie the way they did deserves some kind of award for it, especially the “Got Him” transition into the motorbike scene (can’t find the name of that tune anywhere) where Hilary Yip plays the Chinese woman who Jet Li’s character Han doesn’t want to hit.

Other decent performances include Russell Wong who plays the Chinese boss’s right hand man; Delroy Lindo who plays Isaak, Trish’s father, the head of the black people’s gang; Isaiah Washington who plays Mac, Isaak’s right hand man; and Anthony Anderson who nearly steals the show with his charismatic comedic touch as a low-level shot-caller working for Mac to help protect Trish.

Aaliyah and Jet Li in Romeo Must Die (2000)

The One (2001) – Jet Li and Jason Statham

Jet Li in The One (2001)

The One is a pretty cool Jet Li classic. It’s a simple but pleasant sci-fi packed with kung fu by Jet Li. There’s some energetic solo demonstrations of Xing Yi and Ba Gua to enjoy, plus the usual fast-paced choreography.

The main hero and the main villain are both played by Jet Li (they came from different universes). The villain is trying to kill the good guy in order to gain his power. He’s already killed 123 other versions, making the remaining 2 versions of Jet Li very powerful as they’ve automatically absorbed the speed & strength of those who died (power is split between survivors). The bad guy is trying to kill the good guy now, to become the last remaining one, at which point the universe could explode or the remaining one could “become a god” they say.

Jason Statham has a significant supporting role, as does Delroy Lindo (who was also in Jet Li’s movie from the previous year – Romeo Must Die). They play a pair of inter-universal cops here, tasked with keep both versions of Jet Li alive, to prevent The One from being, at all costs.